The Name's Mercy But Don't Expect Any
by Wolfheart97
Summary: My name is Mercy Cadence and this is my story if you want to listen. I'll tell you through my eyes how I lost to life, defeated death, and came back from the losers bracket to win the whole shibang. You have to throw all your chips in if you want to win.


**Author's Note: Hello and welcome to the first chapter of this fanfiction. I'm going to try to post a chapter hopefully every two weeks. I'd love feedback if you would be so kind! Enough of my rambling, please enjoy my story!**

**Chapter One – And so it begins…**

First name, Mercy… last name, Cadence.

Age? Well, that's a hard question. It should specify whether it wants years before death, years in current body, or years of altogether existence. Noob.

Species? Oh, another toughie… Is this a trick question? It'd be kind of awkward to put down two answers…

Sex? Yes, please.

Date of birth? Seriously? Bet it'd throw them if I put down both…

Date of death? Oh, finally, an easy one! January 14, 2009.

Cause of death? I'll answer this one just for funsies. Directly: Multiple gunshot wounds. Indirectly: Cross dressing.

Yeah, one could say that my life, or lives if you want to get technical about it, has been pretty… odd. But I have a feeling that it's only going to go downhill from here. It feels like I'm standing at the mouth of a dark, looming cave. I have no idea what lurks in the darkness, but I can't help but want to go in. Just to see how far I can go. Just to see what it is that hides in the shadows. I feel that there is danger lying behind every rock, every corner. Even the path behind me that brought me to where I am now was laced with trials and uncertainty. Yet I can't stop myself from taking the first step into the darkness.

I still dream about that day, the day that I died. It's still as clear and vivid as if I had lived it yesterday. It's burned into my memory as if by a branding rod. I still feel the fear, the anxiety, and the pain each night I relive it. It wasn't exactly the start of my journey but it was definitely one of the most difficult parts thus far.

It was normal day at school for the most part. Back when I was an ordinary human, my life seemed fairly average to me. I thought that day was going to be like every other day, but I wasn't expecting a kid to bring a gun to school. It was between classes while I was switching my books out of my locker and chatting with my best friend, Misuku. She was a cheery girl who quickly befriended me the first time I stepped foot in that school. She had dark caramel colored hair and dark brown eyes with a vivacious, almost childish personality.

"So what are you doing this Friday, more training? You know, Mercy, you need to learn how to have fun once and a while," Misuku said as she stood with me by my locker as I set my algebra book down and picked up my history book.

"_Fun_? What is this _fun_ of which you speak?" I joked, slamming my locker shut and setting the lock.

"Don't joke, Mercy, I'm serious," Misuku said, pointing a finger in my face with a pouty expression, "And I can't believe you're still wearing the GUY's uniform! What's wrong with these cute skirts?" She ran her fingers along the soft blue fabric, twirling from side to side with a ridiculous grin on her lips.

"I hate skirts. I've told you a million times that I refuse to wear skirts. Pants are way more comfortable. And I can't skip training. It's the whole reason I'm here in Japan," I pointed out, "Plus, even if I did manage to sneak out one night, Sensei would catch me and probably make me cut the grass on his entire estate with my swords again."

I wore the guy's uniform pants along with the girl's uniform blouse. I guess it would seem odd to them, but I guess they just put it off as strange American behavior.

"Oh, no, don't pull the American transfer student for training thing again! I'm tired of he-" she was cut off by the sounds of screaming girls.

My head snapped around and I quickly scanned the hallway for the source of the girls' fright.

'_Oh hell,'_ I thought as I took in the scene with wide eyes.

Katsu Saito, a boy in the grade ahead of me, was brandishing a shiny black pistol. He had the gun aiming straight into the temple of Ayane, one of my closest friends. She let out a terrified scream that resounded through the chaotic hallways over the din of panicking students. I froze. Next to me, Misuku let out a distressed wail and clung to my arm. Instinctively, my hand crept down to my pants pocket. My fingertips grazed cold metal and I grasped it tight in my palm.

"Everybo- everyone against-st the l-lockers," Katsu ordered shakily. His eyes were wide and he was trembling unsteadily. He had the appearance of a cornered animal.

The remaining students obeyed without a fuss. Clutching my concealed knife, I pressed my back against the cold lockers as I felt a chill spread through me. This was way too familiar. The screams, the adrenaline, the racing thoughts… they had almost become a part of me. It shouldn't have been this way for a fourteen year old, but that was how my life went. I had no control over it, so I had to embrace it.

Yes, I knew it was illegal to bring a pocket knife to school. No, that didn't stop me. Over the years, I learned to always be prepared for any situation. It's always comforting to feel the hard metal against your thigh; just knowing that it's there let me relax a little. It was times like these where I thanked God that I am like I am – a knife wielding maniac.

As Katsu barked out shaky orders, scenarios raced through my mind as I tried to determine the best course of action. One part of me thought that action would be the best course of action. It reasoned that Ayane was in death's grip and if I didn't act, the cloaked skeleton could whisk her away at any moment. On the other hand, the more tactical side of me thought I should wait and see what more the situation provided. Maybe fate would shine on me and give me an opportune window to strike.

The deciding factor came when Katsu panicked as one student made a break for the door. I saw his arm tense, his finger preparing to pull the trigger. Shrieks of terror split the air once more as the tension climaxed.

It was now or never for Ayane.

I made my move. My hand pulled the knife from my pocket as I charged Katsu. I flicked the blade out and it locked with a satisfying 'click'. He turned to face me and, in a panic, pointed the gun away from Ayane and straight at me. I was close enough then to lunge and grab the gun before he could shoot. I thrust it down so it faced the floor.

The order of events following seemed to happen simultaneously and it was only afterward that I was able to put them in a semblance of chronological order. I attacked with my knife. Katsu somehow dodged the blade, but I managed to deliver a harsh straight kick to his knee somehow. He went down. At some point, Ayane was able to free herself and run to safety. A struggle ensued between me and Katsu. It wasn't a long fight, because he wasn't trained in martial arts, and I was.

I subdued him and took his weapon, the small shiny handgun. I thought it was over then as I heard someone call that the police had arrived. I could hear Misuku behind me as she comforted the sobbing Ayane. However, as I stood there holding Katsu down at gunpoint, there was a fatal miscalculation.

The team of police barged into the front doors of the school. They had received a call about a homicidal boy holding a student at gunpoint. Guns drawn, they were completely ready to save the innocents, whatever the cost as they had sworn to when they first became officers of the law. They charged in on a group of students, all screaming and crying… except for the two in the middle. Just as the caller had described there was a boy holding a student at gunpoint.

So, seemingly without another choice, the officers fired to take down the gunman. Over the gunshots, they couldn't hear the screams and protests of the other students trying to stop them. In any case, it would've been too late. The gunman fell to the floor with blood spilling out of the gunshot wounds in his back. The officers felt a grim sense of accomplishment until they heard the reactions of the other students. The realization of their mistakes hit them far too late.

It wasn't the homicidal gunman that they had shot; it was me. I didn't really blame them for their error. I had a short haircut, I wore half of the boy's uniform, and I was pointing the gun. It was probably my fault for not realizing how it could have been taken.

Regardless, I lay on my stomach as life quickly slipped out of my grasp. A lonely coldness started in my toes and fingertips and began spreading through my body. My vision blurred and I could barely see or hear Misuku as she rolled me over and cradled my head in her hands. Tears glistened on her rounded cheeks, and I saw Ayane out of the corner of my eye staring in shock. They were both safe, yet as I fell into the icy clutch of death, I could only think about those that I had let down: my brother, Nathan… Sensei ... and Sakyo.

Morning light filtered through the half opened blinds of the living room. I yawned and opened my eyes, taking in the familiar scene.

'_How long has it been now?' _I asked myself as I shook away the last remnants of the dream, '_Two years? Two and a half, maybe? Somewhere around there.'_

I stood up and stretched, rolling my shoulders and extending each leg. I yawned again and trotted over a dish filled with water and lapped up the lukewarm liquid. Then I made my way down the back hallway, but stopped in front of an open door. Inside was the bathroom and staring back at me from a full length mirror was my reflection. It had taken me a very long time to get used to seeing this reflection.

After fourteen years of appearing as one thing, it's difficult to expect something else. I used to expect seeing a teenage girl with short auburn hair cut in a bob staring back at me with deep brown eyes. But now, I stared back into the face of a wolf. My fur was long and medium, steely gray with lighter shades on my underbelly, face markings, neck, tail, and legs. I also had black tipped ears that my brother liked to tease me about. My eyes were a bright, piercing yellow that stood out from my grey fur.

My brother wasn't a wolf and he wasn't actually my brother either. My biological, human brother, Nathan, was back in America still… at least I hoped. No, my "brother" was actually called Kazuma Kuwabara. He was the real reason I was allowed to return to the Living World after I died.

I recalled the time after I died quite clearly. I woke up as I saw the doctors taking my own body into an ambulance on a stretcher as they zipped me up in a body bag. I was watching from up in the air. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was dead and, by process of elimination, a ghost. That's when I heard a cheerful, feminine voice say right behind me, "Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!"

"Wha-?" I exclaimed, whirling around to face a woman with blue hair and outlandish pink eyes, wearing a pink kimono, riding an…. oar? "Who are you?"

"My name's Botan, pilot of the River Stix. Although, I think you might know me better as "The Grim Reaper". And you are Mercy Cadence," she chimed happily with a spritely laugh.

"Grim Reaper? You're no Grim Reaper. I mean, you're wearing a PINK KIMONO for crying out loud!" I said wiping a hand down my face. This was too weird.

"What? You don't like it? I thought it was rather stylish," she said in a pouty tone that reminded me of Misuku as she tugged at the fabric of her kimono.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just wasn't expecting it is all," I said, responding by instinct just like I would've responded to Misuku. I felt my heart wrench at the memory of her. Would I really never get to see my best friend ever again?

"Huh?" Botan said, noticing my sudden turn in mood, "What's the matter, Mercy?"

"Am I really dead, Botan? Will I really never get to see my friends again?" I asked as I stared at the ground.

"Well, yes, you are dead, but…" she trailed off, scratching her chin.

"Hm," I grunted, "Well then, what's next?"

"You see, Mercy," Botan said as she pulled out a little notebook and started flipping through pages, "We don't really have your place prepared yet because your death was unexpected. No one saw what was coming. We never thought the police would see you as a threat. I guess we should calculate human error more frequently…"

"Well, what's done is done. So what now?" I asked, folding my arms behind my head.

"Well, I've been given orders to offer you a job and if you accept, we will give you your life back," Botan said, smiling.

"Why didn't you say so to start with? What kind of job is it?" I asked impulsively.

"Well, I'll take you to Spirit World where someone will explain this job to you," she said, grabbing onto my arm. We began to fly rapidly upward into the sky.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Spirit World?" I asked.

"Yes, Spirit World. All will be explained soon enough."

My first visit to Spirit World was a strange one. After reaching the Gateway of Decision, Botan and I made our way through the giant rooms filled with monstrous ogres doing office work – which for some reason deeply disturbed me. We finally reached the office of "The Great Koenma" as Botan called him. I had prepared a mental image in my mind of an 8 foot man with muscles on his muscles and horns on his head and a lightning bolt in each of his four hands.

"Greetings Koenma, sir," Botan said as she bowed. I looked down and saw a young boy with a pacifier in his mouth. Was this Koenma's kid or something?  
>"Greetings, Botan," the kid spoke.<p>

"Ah! You're Koenma?" I gasped, reeling backwards from surprise.

"Why, yes I am," he said, slightly annoyed. I noticed his eyebrow was twitching.

"Oh… uh…Honored to, um, meet you," I stuttered, bowing slightly.

Why was the so called "ruler" of Spirit World a toddler? I took a closer look at him. He was wearing a ridiculously large, blue hat with "Jr." written on the pink flap at the bottom that was folded up. Some Japanese symbol was written in the red circle in the middle and I couldn't quite recall what it represented. I guessed that it was the Japanese character for junior, but that was only a guess. He was also wearing a blue jacket with a red sash tied around his waist and some sort of yellowish pants.

"So, Mercy Cadence, you've come here to see about this job we have for you," he stated. I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I didn't.

"That is correct, isn't it?" he asked.

"Uh, yes," I said nodding, still slightly perturbed, "But what exactly is this job?"

"Glad you asked. You see, there is this boy called Kazuma Kuwabara. We recently gained some intelligence that the boy has extraordinary potential abilities. We don't know what his abilities are, though. All we know is that in the future, there will be someone who wishes to misuse the boy's power for evil purposes. We don't know who. Intelligence says that whatever it is will endanger the Human World and all who live in it. It seems that there will be much pain and trial following this Kuwabara.

"This is where we want you, Mercy. If you accept this offer, we will give you your life and body back. What we need you to do is protect the boy. Make sure his power isn't used for the destruction of mankind. This will in no doubt put you in harm's way, but we need someone who knows the circumstances to act as a barrier to the malevolent forces at work. Do you still think you can do it?"

"Sure, I'll do it," I accepted, with a huge grin.

Silence followed for several long moments.

"Don't take this lightly, Mercy, you'll be in great dangers, and-" Koenma started.

"Hey, how do you think I got here? I've been facing danger daily since I was eight years old. You should know that, shouldn't you? I mean, I would assume that the ruler of the Living World has dirt on everybody, right? You know my life's story. If it'll bring me back to life, then bring it on," I smiled while doing a fist pump.

"Very well then, in a few weeks your spirit and body energy will come in line and then you may return to your body. But before then, you must make sure your body is not cremated or you won't have a body to return to," Koenma sighed, "Now you must go, I have mounds of paper work piling up."


End file.
